Septiembre 15, 2022
A judge ordered a food stall operator that defrauded H-2B workers to pay $203,000 dollars in lost wages and penalties.
Minneapolis - A judge dismissed the challenge from a Minnesota company and confirmed the Department of Labor’s finding that the employer violated the federal program of H-2B temporary work visas.
The judge’s order comes after Solem Concessions Inc. - a food stall operator based in Rochester that travels to state and county fairs, music festivals and other public events in eight states - persistently ignored court orders and investigation requests from the Department of Labor.
Investigators from the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor identified various employer violations of the H-2B temporary work visa program, and found that Solem Concessions owed $148,631 in lost wages to 35 workers with H-2B visas hired by the company to staff the stalls. The H-2B violations also led the Division to assess $54,905 in civil fines.
“Federal labor law provides protections to workers employed through the H-2B program, and Solem Concessions, Inc violated those requirements,” said Wage and Hour District Director Kristin Tout in Minneapolis.
The Division investigators found that the employer violated the H-2B program when:
It did not pay the required wage per hour. It paid its employees fixed salaries that did not compensate them for all of the hours worked.
It failed to maintain accurate payroll records and time records, including hours worked per day.
It did not provide timesheets or earnings statements to workers that included the employer’s address and identification number, the hourly pay rate, hours worked, start and end dates of the pay period and the first and last name of the employee.
It reimbursed workers’ visa costs at the end of the season instead of during the first week of work.
For more information about the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other laws monitored by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the Division by calling them at 866-487-9243, or call Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. to obtain free legal support at 800-590-1773 in Mexico or 1-855-234-9699 in the United States.
To read the article in English about the United States Department of Labor’s investigation through the Wage and Hour Division, you can click this link.
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